So off on the bikes to Utrecht where Maaike went to University and studied.

It would be fair to say that for the first day of cycling I was petrified. Well, at least more than a bit scared. Cycling on the right was different of course and obviously everyone expects you to know what you’re doing (which wasn’t remotely correct in my case).

Here’s a picture of Maaike’s secondary school. Interestingly, spent most of her time mitching and playing cards – and now ends up implementing literacy and numeracy programmes. Oh the irony ;)

So, as I said in an earlier post, this country is completely setup for bikes. Priority wise bike lanes are *a part of the road* – even though they’re physically separated. This means that drivers have to give way to you when crossing them. Also, there’s a law here (apparently – still seems bizarre) that if a car hits a bike *at all*… then the car is at fault.

Does this really mean that, say, I’m cycling the wrong way down a one way street and hit into a car – that it’s the cars fault?!?! Seems utterly utterly bizarre. If any Dutch care to enlighten that would be most appreciated!

Updated – Maaike’s dad rang the police to find out! Basically insurance wise the car is always at fault, but legally this may not be the case!

So, at the train station you can see lots and lots of bikes parked and also, below, you can see the clever little grooves they make to allow you to easily wheel your bike up & down accessing the platforms. Very clever.

First stop in Utrecht was IngeJudith – a flatemate of Maaike’s (with her baby Sjoerd – very well behaved!). Went for a lovely bike ride through Utrecht and De Bilt. Unfortunately my bottom was quite saddle-sore, so didn’t take too many pictures.

Maaike’s friend Annick was kind enough to put us up while in Utrecht (thanks! see you in NZ soonish :)

So the time in Utrecht was split nicely between touring about and meeting up with work, college and football friends of Maaike’s. Lovely bunch, but I think I’ll have to get substantially better at Dutch before venturing this way again.

Some pictures…

There were lots of these water towers dotted about the place. Not sure if they were defensive in nature too, but certainly impressive!

Had a delicious dinner with former work-mates of Maaike – can’t get tapas like these in ChCh. Or, if you can, I’ve not found them yet! Hopefully will see some of them NZ way.

Spent a few days at Maaike’s parents place.. eating yum food and going for some walks in the area.

Both of Maaike’s parents are excellent chefs – and have been good enough to prepare some of the local specialities. Pictured below is white asparagus. Maaike has been bleeting on about this for years – and while it was delicious – I didn’t find it *hugely* different from regular green asparagus. Yum though. Also pictured is, I kid you not, Maaike’s mum’s wooden spoon. Heh.

One day we went for a walk around the local environs. Their house is very close to the German (and Belgian) borders. We crossed and re-crossed the German border all day.. and I pretty much prooved the ‘you’ll never know when we cross the border’ proclamation false.

Pictured here is one of the border markers, with Maaike and Gerrit (brother in law)

We went to a pub and had a fine Belgian beer, and some bitterballen (deep fried left over meaty things). Heart attack on a stick, but very very delicious.

Maaike and Sjoerd also tried some gymnastic moves in the garden, and Sjoerd and I had a decent battle over a game of Tantrix (draw!)

Finally.. a video of the mountain near the house..

After the wedding we all headed South to Posterholt which is where Maaike’s parents live – close by the border with Germany and Belgium.

On the way we visited a really interesting music museum. Unfortunately my camera had run out of batteries and have misplaced the cable to get pictures off Maaike’s camera.

But, the music museum was really excellent. Basically a physics prof had collected instruments over about 60 years – donated them all to a museum and now runs it with his wife. There were some amazing artefacts there – and really interesting to see the development of various instruments. I will put up pictures and video’s later. But here’s a pic of the building.

Also worth pointing out is that houses in The Netherlands make extremely efficient use of space. In fact, I suspect that some of the best interior designers are probably Dutch in origin. Here’s a picture of Maaike going down stairs in the B&B we stayed in.

This is typical of houses here.. I can only imagine how many foreign necks are broken on a drunken night out in this country. Seriously – very very steep!

Another interesting thing you see all over the place is bike paths, and signage.

These ‘paddestoel’ or mushrooms are dotted about the place. They give you a marker number (on the top) and then distances with arrows to localish towns and villages. The number on top is also on maps & guides so you can tour about using these points.

These mushrooms are being replaced by more modern maps and signposts – but the basic idea stays the same. Very clever.

Finally.. it’s time for:

Oddity #2 : Toilets.

Here is a picture of a (clean) Dutch toilet.

Note the ledge. This has two major effects that I can think of:

• No Splash
• Smell

(sorry to be explicit mum).

Personally, I think the latter outweighs the former, but I’m open to eloquent, reasoned debate on the matter.

The close family and guests gathered at a hotel before the wedding couple arrived. It was fun to meet some of the cousins and uncles & aunts that Maaike had talked about. Here she is pictured with her cousin Sietske.

Interestingly – the Dutch don’t have a word to distinguish between cousin and niece/nephew. Strange, but true.

After a little while (and a few pictures) Femke and Gerrit – the Bride and Groom arrived. Looking beautiful and dashing in equal measure. Actually, on the whole Dashing and Beautiful thing – it would be fair to say that, on the whole, The Dutch are a pretty attractive race of people.

Anyways – yes, the couple arrived and off we went to an ancient church for the ceremony.

The church was properly old, with that delicious old smell that comes with buildings that have been around for a really long time. The entire service was in Dutch – so I didn’t really understand too much of it – though I did join in the hymns with great gusto!

After the service it was off to the reception.

More pictures were taken :)

Then time for a yum buffet (sit where you like – quite a difference from Irish Weddings there), before dancing the night away.

The DJ was excellent – even throwing in The Netherlands’ main musical claim to fame – yes – 2 Unlimited ;)

Upon arrival under sea level (Schipol International Hairyport) Maaike’s parents picked us up. Luckily they’d remembered to check their mobiles for a text before driving to Cherbourg! Phew!.

Then we drove to Gorinchem where Femke (Maaike’s sister – pictured below) about to be married lives. There we were treated to a yum dinner (made by Gerrit – Femke’s Fianceé) and fine Belgian beers! Perfecto.

The next day we headed up to Groningen which is in the North of the country to get ready for the wedding. Femke had been making oblique references to ‘haircut’ .. and ‘shaggy wooly Irishmen’ * and and and and stuff… so did end up getting a haircut (had actually meant to in Ireland – but ran out of time with the flights etc).

Also, up in Groningen we met up with Sjoerd – Maaike’s brother. Funny bugger and all round troublemaker it would be fair to say. At last, the terrible three reunited.

It was a really pretty town to walk around – the country really is completely set up for

• Cyclists
• Getting Lost

But more on that to come.

They also have some definite oddities, and I’ll try to pepper these posts with some of them. Starting with

Oddity #1 : The hole-in-the-wall-hot-food-dispensing-machines.

These are in most major towns – and probably lots of smaller ones too. I’ve been too scared to actually eat out of them – but one images sickness & decay wouldn’t be tooooo far behind.

Finally – one thing the Dutch do love (and justifiably so) is their cheese. This is just a regular cheese department in a regular supermarket. I think one of the first trips after returning to ChCh will be straight down to the (only?!) cheesemongers in town.

* (may not be true)